Beer In A Cask

[Sear Sommerfeldt]

Normal keg beer is filtered, carbonated to usually 2.4 volumes of CO2 and pushed out of the keg with CO2. Cask beer is dispensed traditionally (and preferably in my opinion) by being pumped out of the cask using what is called a beer engine (hand pump). Since there is no CO2 pushing the beer out of the vessel, air is allowed to enter the cask as the beer is dispensed.

This means that once tapped, the beer must be consumed fairly quickly (I prefer within 48 hours) before it will start to go completely flat and spoil. Also, unlike keg beer, cask ale is best served at 55F. This temperature allows all of the flavor nuances to emerge and permits appreciation of the unfiltered texture.

Cask beer is delicate and highly perishable. Consequently, if it is poorly casked or handled, there can be disappointing results. Usual complaints are the beer is totally flat, muddy in appearance or served too warm. Unfortunately for some folks, that is their only experience with cask beer, and that has led to some serious misunderstandings. Indeed, good cask ale should be neither flat, muddy or warm.

While the traditional method for dispensing cask beer is through a beer engine (hand pump), it can also be dispensed using a cask tap. This is literally a faucet that is hammered into the cask through the keystone (hence the term tapping a keg). Once tapped, the beer is dispensed by gravity. As the beer flows, air is allowed to enter through the spile (a small wooden peg used to control the flow of air into, and carbon dioxide out of a cask). I always prefer the beer engine, but the cask tap is okay for festivals and special events.

Cask ale is unfiltered and unpasteurised. This means that the beer contains all of its natural fermentation yeasts, which give it a characteristic cloudy appearance. Cask ales are served from casks by hand pumps in pubs and bars with cask ale pump clips fitted to the hand pumps. A cask ale is served at cellar temperature (about 10-12C) because this allows it to be poured without causing excessive foaming or affecting the flavour profile of the beer. It also keeps it fresh for longer periods.

Cask ale is best served at cellar temperature, which means it should be in the range of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The beer engine that you use to dispense cask ale should always be kept under pressure, as this will help keep your beer fresh and less likely to spoil over time. When serving cask ale, you want to open the tap slowly and close it quickly. This will prevent unwanted foam from being released into your glass while still allowing enough air into each glass for a proper pour. Always remember: slow and steady wins the race!

Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".

The fundamental distinctions between real and other ales is that real ale is required to be unfiltered, unpasteurized and served either from a beer engine without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide, or via bottle conditioning. Real ale is not filtered and the yeast is still present and living in the container from which the real ale is served, although it will have settled to the bottom and is usually not poured into the glass. The natural carbon dioxide is lost during filtration so filtered beer has to be artificially re-carbonated. This can make the beer very 'gassy'. Because the yeast is still present and alive in real ale, a slow process of secondary fermentation continues in the cask or bottle on the way to the consumer, allowing the beer to retain its natural carbonation. Another distinction is that real ale should be served without the aid of added carbon dioxide, or "top pressure" as it is commonly known. Common dispensing methods are the handpump, or "by gravity" direct from the cask. Electric pumps are occasionally seen, especially in the Midlands and Scotland. Water pumps, powered by mains water pressure, were the traditional means of dispensing draught beer in Scotland but this method is discontinued.

A cask breather works by adding carbon dioxide into the cask to replace the beer as it is drawn off, rather than allowing in air, thus extending the beer's saleable life. However, the added gas is not at the high pressure typical of keg beer.Before 2018, cask ales which were kept "fresh" by the use of a cask breather were not classified by CAMRA as real ale. In 2018, this policy was changed, allowing pubs using cask breathers to be listed in the Good Beer Guide.[2]

The expression "real ale" has been heavily promoted by CAMRA to attract the attention of the media in the UK. The term was coined in the 1970s, when there were very few independent breweries left, and most production had gone over to filtered and pasteurised ales served under carbon dioxide pressure ("keg beer").

Cask conditioned ale remains popular within the UK, particularly in traditional pubs. In 2019, 420 million pints of cask ale were sold in the UK, accounting for 13.5% of all pints.[3] Cask ale has been described as 'Britain's National Drink', and its 'Britishness' is often seen as an important factor in promoting cask.[4]

Crafted with Starward's signature single malt, Ginger Beer Cask #7 is finished in barrels that once held our distillery-made ginger beer. Each Ginger Beer Cask release is approached with a different recipe and process, making each batch truly one-of-a-kind.

At Starward, our distillers love to re-write the rulebook, even when we have award-winning and cult-favorite recipes. This commitment to innovation has led to six unique sell-out editions of Ginger Beer Cask in Australia, each year pushing the boundaries to curate a fresher, spicier result. This bottling's predecessor, Ginger Beer Cask #6, won Double Gold at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, but we think Ginger Beer Cask #7 is the best one yet. Made with more fresh ginger than ever before, this spirit is finished for a total of 12 months in zesty ginger beer casks to create the delightful and distinguished single malt that it is today.

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Cask beer engine, The Prince Alfred, LondonThe summer after finishing high school a friend and I set out on aninterrail trip through Europe. In England, one of the things we wantedto experience was a proper English beer. So we ordered a Guinness.This was a mistake on many different levels, but I'll limit myself tothree here. First, Guinness is of course Irish, and not English.Secondly, we could have had it just about anywhere in Norway. Butperhaps the worst mistake was that what's most unique about Britishbeer culture is the cask method of serving beer draft. Guinness,however, even in England, is served from keg, like draft beers in therest of the world.People will tell you that the English like their beer flat (meaningwith no CO2) and at room temperature, and this is not anunreasonable description of beer served from cask. When beer is servedfrom keg, pressurized CO2 is used to push the beer out ofthe keg and into your glass. This gives the beer the fizzy sparklethat we're all familiar with. Unfortunately, the fizz in your mouthalso serves to obscure the taste of the beer.A cask, on the other hand, is not pressurized, and is open to theair around the cask. This means that much of the CO2escapes, and the result is beer that feels much smoother and milder inthe mouth, and where the flavour and aroma are more prominent. Thecask is often kept in a cellar below the bar, which means that thebeer will typically be served at cellar temperature. Tasting the samebeer from cask and from bottle can be a quite startling experience,because the difference can be so big that it appears not to be thesame beer at all. (Be aware, though, that in the UK the recipes for acask ale and a bottled ale of the same name are often different. Eventhe alcohol strength can be different.) I've found the comparison tobe usually very much in favour of the cask version, with someexceptions.I have to admit that the first times I tried cask ale I wasn't veryimpressed. I was put off by the unfamiliar mouthfeel (the flatness,mostly), and wasn't really able to appreciate the depth of theflavour, and felt that after the first two-three beers they all tastedthe same. It was only after repeated exposures that I started reallyappreciating beer served in this way. Now I very much prefer cask beerto beer served any other way. When I can find it, that is. Cask ale, The Bridge House, LondonUnfortunately, draft beer around the world is nearly universallydispensed from keg. The reason is that cask beer is harder to workwith. Since it's exposed to the air it generally goes bad within 3-7days, and so high turnover is needed. It also requires abit of cellarmanship to treat it right and prepare it fordispensing. And, finally, the barkeep has to use a handpump to pullthe beer from the cellar. Keg beer, on the other hand, can bedelivered by a tank car through a hose to a tank in the basement, andpoured into a glass at the flick of a switch. No particular skills areneeded from the staff, which is a great advantage in the pub trade,which has very high turnover.Historically, all draft beer was served from cask, in some form. Inthe 20th century, however, keg replaced cask pretty much everywhere.Except, that is, in the United Kingdom, where the Campaign for RealAle (CAMRA) managed to save it in the 1970s. This doesn't mean thatdraft beer in the UK is cask, only that a reasonable number of pubsthere have one cask ale or more. Industrial beers like Stella,Guinness, Foster's, and so on are always served from keg, even in theUK. It's only the micros and regionals which produce cask ale. In thepub, you can recognize cask beers because of the characteristic beerengines they are pulled from, such as the one in the photo at the topright in this posting.Unfortunately, when you do get beer from cask there is a tendencyin British pubs to fill the glass to the rim, leaving some of it to slop over. Thisgives you a wet glass, beer stains on the table, and so on. It alsoleaves no room for the head. But worst of all, in my opinion, is thatthe aroma cannot gather inside the glass, instead dispersing in theair around the glass. The result is that you are robbed of some of theflavour of the beer.Cask beer can also be found outside of the UK, but is definitelyrare. Fuller's exports casksto a few places in Finland, the Bishop's Arms pubs in Sweden, and somepubs in Denmark also have it. In Norway 3-4 pubs occasionally serveNgne beers from cask. I've also found it in Japan in a couple ofplaces (notably Popeye), and obviously it mustexist in the US, too. Wooden cask, Der Pschorr, Mnchen, GermanyIn Germany the cask tradition is actually not completely dead, butdifferent from in the UK. It's generally only a few brewpubs andbrewery taps which serve cask beer. And, this being Germany, they tendto serve cask lager, rather than ale. When you do find it, it'stypically in the form of a wooden cask (holzfa) placed on the barcounter, with no elaborate beer engine for pumping the beer, becauseinstead they use a simple tap that exploits the force of gravity topour the beer. The photo above shows one example.I would assume that it's also possible to find cask beer in theCzech Republic, but must confess that I couldn't really tell youwhere. As for Belgium, I don't really know. It would be strange if itwasn't possible to find cask beer there, but at the same time I can'tremember ever seeing it or hearing about it.In any case, if you ever visit the UK, this is one of the thingsyou must make sure to try. Look for CAMRA's cask marque by the entranceto the pub. That's a sign not just that they have cask ale, but alsothat it's in good condition.Similar posts Pub-walking in London It's odd that the pub should in one sense be the ultimate Englishtourist attraction, since all countries have their own bars and cafs,but somehow the English pub has become part of international culture

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